An important message from Poland

The Poles are standing against the European Union, perhaps the most crony organization in the world. (Perhaps. There’s quite a lot of competition.) But a relatively small group of fascists would like to hijack any anti-EU sentiment.

Fascism and all forms of socialism must be resisted. Poland, again, is a battleground. Informed Poles know better than to trust anyone. Being wedged between Russia and Germany is a challenge of the greatest proportions.

Notice how there is an effort to characterize the nut bar fascists as “right wing” in much of the media. Nazis are collectivists, they are socialists – National Socialists, they are statist, and anti-individual. They are anti-free market. They are anti-freedom just like other socialists. But instead of trying to mobilize people along class lines, the fascists try to mobilize people along ethnic lines.

Consider whether the state would be reduced under fascism. Not – a – chance. Would crony capitalism thrive? Absolutely, crony capitalism IS fascism in the most important respects. Statism, both National Socialism and International Socialism feed on resentment and ignorance and both must be fought.

(From The New Delhi Times)

Political scientist Miroslav Mares, an expert on extremism at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, said Central Europeans hear about attacks by Islamic extremists in France, Germany and England and fear that “beyond the borders is a state of chaos and war” that could envelop them.

While extremist movements often thrive during hard times, the quality of life is better than ever now in a region that has known wars, occupation and oppression.

“Central Europe is living the happiest time in its history,” said Grigorij Meseznikov, president of the Institute for Public Affairs, a think tank in Slovakia. “Never was life in this region as prosperous as it is today.”

But like others in the era of globalization, many people feel frustrated that the improving economy hasn’t benefited them. There are complaints that wages remain much lower than in the West while inequality has grown since the end of communism.
“If you look at Slovakia, the situation 25 years ago was much worse. There was high inflation and unemployment higher than 20 percent, yet we didn’t have a fascist party in the parliament,” Meseznikov said. “Today, we really have a functioning economy, low inflation, declining unemployment; we are in the EU and NATO. … And nevertheless there are fascists in the parliament.”

Mares thinks a lot of the disappointment stems from a tendency by Czechs and their neighbors to compare their financial situations to those of Germans and others in the West, rather than looking east to much poorer Belarus and Ukraine and feeling encouraged by how far they have come.